Figure 1.--Here we see a French family scene after World war II in the late-1940 or early-50s. The boy looks to be about 5-6 years old. He is dressed up for some special occassion. He wears a dressy blouse with strap romper bottoms. It is difficult to tell because the rompers are a very light color and the blouse is white. Click on the image for a discussion of the boy's romper outfit .

Rompers were primarily a play garment for younger boys. They were a simple garment that boys could wear that were easily washable. Washing a family clothes when rompers first appeared werec a major part of aother's work load. And most French mothers got washing machines later than American mothers. So rompers were an easy wy to dress mostly pre-school boys. They proved so popular in France, however, they rompers were also made for more formal occassions. We are not sure when this began, but I think in the late-1930s. Here the difference was often in the material used and the detailing. Both play and dress rompers can be found in these basic types, although the bib-front rompers was primarily a play style. the barboteuse Bain de Soleil sun suit were a type of bib-front rompers. Gradually we begin to see dress rompers, both the stndard barboteuse suits and suspender rompers worn with a dressy blouse. These dressy rompers might even be done with velvet and various decorative trim.

Play Garment

Rompers were primarily a play garment for younger boys. They were a simple garment that boys could wear that were easily washable. Washing a family clothes when rompers first appeared were a major part of mother's work load. And most French mothers got washing machines later than American mothers. So rompers were an easy way to dress mostly pre-school boys. We see large numbers of pre-school boys wearing these play rompers. Bib-front rompers seem to have become more popular after World War II. We see them extensively in the photographic record. They seem especially common in the 1950s. Here the rising prosperiry as part of the French Economic Miracle may have had some impact on the photographic record with more family snapshots being taken. Boys wore them at home as well as for outings to parks and outdoor parties. Bib-front rompers were especially popular for beach vacations. We seem being worn into the 1960s. After that they have become more of an infant garmrent and we begin to see them beung used by this very yong age group for girls and no longer just by boys.

School Garment

Rompers are a garment we have noted being worn primarily by French boys before they began school. We have noted, however, boys commonly wearing rompers in kindergarten. Apparently, some boys in the CP class (1st Grade) also occassionally wore romper suits, although this was much less common. French boys had play rompers and also dressy rompers. These dressy rompers were for Sundays and hollidays, but appareltly they were also worn for special days at school. A French reader tells us, "I was with my Uncle one day. He and some associates were making an officil visit at a primary school (about 1953). I don't remember in which school it was. All the pupils were in class and a little pupil about 6 years old came with us for a while. He was dressed in traditional romper. I believe also that this same day several other little boys in class CP (comparable to 1st grade) wore a romper too. Probably a lot of children were dressed in Sunday clothe in raison of this visit. I was quite young myself. Thus my memory of this is quite vague."

Dress-up Formal Garment

Rompers proved so popular in France that mothers began to want them for more formal occassions and not jus for play. We are are not yet sure about the chrobology for these developments. We think that the more dressy rompers began to appear in the late-1930s, but this nees to be confirmed. Here the difference was often in the material used and the detailing. Both play and dress rompers can be found in these basic types, although the bib-front rompers were primarily a play style. The barboteuse Bain de Soleil sun suit were a type of bib-front rompers. Gradually we begin to see dressy rompers, both the stndard barboteuse suits and suspender rompers worn with a dressy blouse. These dressy rompers might even be done with velvet and various decorative trim. We think the dressy rompers for younger boys were primarily the classic barboteuse rinoper suits. The older boys like the boy here outfitted for a special occassoom were more likely to wear strap romper styles (figure 1). Like play ropers, these dressy rompers were primarily worn by pre-school boys, but we see so boys in the early primary years dressed up in these outfits.

Special Events

Rompers wre both play outfits and dress-up outfits. We note magazine fashion pages showing boys dressed up in rompers for holiday celebrations. We notice an older boy even shown with white gloves weaing a dressy romper outfit. And we see fashion pages with a holiday setting. A 'Le petit echo de la mode' Christmas page shows boy in a romper suit. The most common seem to be were Easter and Christmas. This was especially common for school pagents, but it was not just pajent outfits. We also see boys dressed up in rompers for celebrations at home. This appears to have been both outfits that the boys may have been worn to celebrations and visits to friends and families. We note an image of a younger brother wearing a romper suit to churh for his brother's First Communion. They were also worn at home for the family celebration. We do not have a lot of family snapshots yet showing this, but we have found a few such images.